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So, I finally finished Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. I should warn you that this will probably contain some sort of spoiler, however unintentional it may be. So, if you haven't read the book yet [or any of the others...] you might want to skip this and then later come back to it.
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Overall: I found the book to be absolutely infuriating. This is not to say it's a bad book, it's not. But if you hate books, movies, television shows, whatever, where the characters go through obscene gobs of pain and annoying circumstances, you might want to steel yourself. This book is filled with annoying characters [they're meant to piss you off and do so quite well] who don't ever fade into the background [not that they're meant to]. Moments of peace and joy are pretty much impossible to find between Harry acting like an obnoxious child [apparently he really does take after his father, only less cruel] and the things he and Hogwarts go through.
On the other hand, except for one revelation at the end of the book, the payoff makes up for most of the pain you're forced to endure along with Harry.
Characters, plots, and other things:
Harry: At the ripe old age of 15, Harry apparently takes a stupid and obnoxious combo pill. His blinding hatred of certain characters and his messiah complex pretty much screw him and quite a few people over. That said, the messiah complex is a given in any book with a clear cut hero. It's what makes them a hero after all. This is nothing new. The obnoxiousness, however, is new. It is explained, but not before Harry says and does a few things that might make you wish he was real so you could reach out and bitchslap some sense into him.
The pity card is cleverly saved for most of the book, although throughout the book you do feel twinges of sympathy as Harry must deal with his new celebrity status. [yes, new celebrity... Read, you'll see.]
Hermoine: Nothing really new about Hermoine is introduced this go round, though the moral righteousness she's had going for her in the last four books is toned down considerably. Who knows, maybe that time with Viktor [spelling be damned], calmed her down a bit.
She and Ron also manage to avoid fighting for giant stretches of time in this book, a first in the series I believe. Sure, they have their spats and don't talk to each other for a day, but it doesn't extend into a huge long gap making you wonder why they're friends to begin with. Instead it's something to distract Harry from going off the deep end.
Hermoine also acts as translator between boys and girls and seems to know quite a bit of gossip, although she never actually seems to gossip. She comes up with a few ingenious plans and pretty much cemented my like of her.
Ron: Who knew Ron could play Quiddich? Yeah, well... :p Basically Ron seems shunted off to the side for most of the book, although I don't think it's noticeable until you reach the end and try and figure out who got a story arc. Sure, he got to do things, and he had some moments that made you really feel for the guy, but for the most part he's just Harry's other half. I wonder if he considers his fifth year to be a success for himself, or if the unpleasantness from Slytherin ruined all the good things that happened to him...
Other people:
Cho- I know some people found her to just be unbelievable, but I gather that the stress coupled with her probable depression over Cedric probably pushed her right into crazy town. The crying jags though... Seriously, she cried a. lot.
Hagrid- Jake was right. Hagrid's story was kind of unnecessary. Hell, it only seemed to further isolate Harry and then give the D.A. a way to escape at the end. In fact, that's about all it seemed to do. Then again, maybe it'll show up more in the next novel. One never knows.
Luna- Loony and yet lovable. If I were a Hogwarts character, I'd be Luna. So, y'know, I loved her. :D
Umbridge- Never have I wished for a character to be the unfortunate death of some prank pulled by Peeves as much as I wish Umbridge had been. Good God, I got so annoyed that merely the mention of her in passing by a secondary character made me clench my teeth. She is why it took me so long to pick up the book and finish. Every little good thing that happened was tempered by the knowledge that the big bad hem hem would ruin it threefold. *evil cackle*
Dumbledore- Good to see the ultimate symbol for good in Harry's world is still flawed. However the cost was quite high...
McGonagal- Hee. I love her. *points to the Umbridge scenes with her*
Percy Weasley- Sweet mother of God, I hope that little prick gets his arse kicked by his brothers [and Ginny] in the next one. He could sorely use it.
Ginny Weasley- Who knew she had so much character just waiting around to be used?
Fred & George- If not for them, I probably would have given up on the book and skipped to the end. Brilliant they are.
Snape- ...GRRR! Another look back into why Snape is the way he is just makes me like the cranky bitchy dude, but he and Harry need to seriously hash things out, beat the crap out of one another, and then get the fuck over it.
Draco- Obnoxious little prick. I wish he would die. Or be so humbled that he withered, never to turn as evil as he could be and then fell off the face of the planet. Still, not as annoying as some.
and finally...
the death:
Later on I might just say to hell with any spoilers, but since it's still new, why be that cruel.. Anyway, to be honest, when I first heard they were killing someone off, this is one of the two names that immediately popped to mind. Both names, btw, popped up for the exact same reason. *sniff* I still hold out hope that there's a miracle lurking somewhere...
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.
.
.
.
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In other news, that guy I mentioned who lives right around here that I talked to? Yeah, guess who hasn't talked to him since then? :P I'm either a psychic, or I just know people and their reactions. Hunh. Can't say it doesn't kind of hurt the old feelings, especially since I always was nice to him, but hey. You can't make people be your friend or even want to know you. *shrug* His loss. If there's one thing I've learned it's this: If you spend all your time chasing after the prettiest people around exclusively, and won't even talk to someone you consider to be beneath you lookswise, you end up getting burned to the point of having to start your life over, or just deal with the fun hollow no candy center life.
*hums* Also, I'm not excessively excited at the thought of a new Harry Potter book coming out any time soon [not that there is one] so I can now get to work on Return of the King.
.
.
.
.
-------
Overall: I found the book to be absolutely infuriating. This is not to say it's a bad book, it's not. But if you hate books, movies, television shows, whatever, where the characters go through obscene gobs of pain and annoying circumstances, you might want to steel yourself. This book is filled with annoying characters [they're meant to piss you off and do so quite well] who don't ever fade into the background [not that they're meant to]. Moments of peace and joy are pretty much impossible to find between Harry acting like an obnoxious child [apparently he really does take after his father, only less cruel] and the things he and Hogwarts go through.
On the other hand, except for one revelation at the end of the book, the payoff makes up for most of the pain you're forced to endure along with Harry.
Characters, plots, and other things:
Harry: At the ripe old age of 15, Harry apparently takes a stupid and obnoxious combo pill. His blinding hatred of certain characters and his messiah complex pretty much screw him and quite a few people over. That said, the messiah complex is a given in any book with a clear cut hero. It's what makes them a hero after all. This is nothing new. The obnoxiousness, however, is new. It is explained, but not before Harry says and does a few things that might make you wish he was real so you could reach out and bitchslap some sense into him.
The pity card is cleverly saved for most of the book, although throughout the book you do feel twinges of sympathy as Harry must deal with his new celebrity status. [yes, new celebrity... Read, you'll see.]
Hermoine: Nothing really new about Hermoine is introduced this go round, though the moral righteousness she's had going for her in the last four books is toned down considerably. Who knows, maybe that time with Viktor [spelling be damned], calmed her down a bit.
She and Ron also manage to avoid fighting for giant stretches of time in this book, a first in the series I believe. Sure, they have their spats and don't talk to each other for a day, but it doesn't extend into a huge long gap making you wonder why they're friends to begin with. Instead it's something to distract Harry from going off the deep end.
Hermoine also acts as translator between boys and girls and seems to know quite a bit of gossip, although she never actually seems to gossip. She comes up with a few ingenious plans and pretty much cemented my like of her.
Ron: Who knew Ron could play Quiddich? Yeah, well... :p Basically Ron seems shunted off to the side for most of the book, although I don't think it's noticeable until you reach the end and try and figure out who got a story arc. Sure, he got to do things, and he had some moments that made you really feel for the guy, but for the most part he's just Harry's other half. I wonder if he considers his fifth year to be a success for himself, or if the unpleasantness from Slytherin ruined all the good things that happened to him...
Other people:
Cho- I know some people found her to just be unbelievable, but I gather that the stress coupled with her probable depression over Cedric probably pushed her right into crazy town. The crying jags though... Seriously, she cried a. lot.
Hagrid- Jake was right. Hagrid's story was kind of unnecessary. Hell, it only seemed to further isolate Harry and then give the D.A. a way to escape at the end. In fact, that's about all it seemed to do. Then again, maybe it'll show up more in the next novel. One never knows.
Luna- Loony and yet lovable. If I were a Hogwarts character, I'd be Luna. So, y'know, I loved her. :D
Umbridge- Never have I wished for a character to be the unfortunate death of some prank pulled by Peeves as much as I wish Umbridge had been. Good God, I got so annoyed that merely the mention of her in passing by a secondary character made me clench my teeth. She is why it took me so long to pick up the book and finish. Every little good thing that happened was tempered by the knowledge that the big bad hem hem would ruin it threefold. *evil cackle*
Dumbledore- Good to see the ultimate symbol for good in Harry's world is still flawed. However the cost was quite high...
McGonagal- Hee. I love her. *points to the Umbridge scenes with her*
Percy Weasley- Sweet mother of God, I hope that little prick gets his arse kicked by his brothers [and Ginny] in the next one. He could sorely use it.
Ginny Weasley- Who knew she had so much character just waiting around to be used?
Fred & George- If not for them, I probably would have given up on the book and skipped to the end. Brilliant they are.
Snape- ...GRRR! Another look back into why Snape is the way he is just makes me like the cranky bitchy dude, but he and Harry need to seriously hash things out, beat the crap out of one another, and then get the fuck over it.
Draco- Obnoxious little prick. I wish he would die. Or be so humbled that he withered, never to turn as evil as he could be and then fell off the face of the planet. Still, not as annoying as some.
and finally...
the death:
Later on I might just say to hell with any spoilers, but since it's still new, why be that cruel.. Anyway, to be honest, when I first heard they were killing someone off, this is one of the two names that immediately popped to mind. Both names, btw, popped up for the exact same reason. *sniff* I still hold out hope that there's a miracle lurking somewhere...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
In other news, that guy I mentioned who lives right around here that I talked to? Yeah, guess who hasn't talked to him since then? :P I'm either a psychic, or I just know people and their reactions. Hunh. Can't say it doesn't kind of hurt the old feelings, especially since I always was nice to him, but hey. You can't make people be your friend or even want to know you. *shrug* His loss. If there's one thing I've learned it's this: If you spend all your time chasing after the prettiest people around exclusively, and won't even talk to someone you consider to be beneath you lookswise, you end up getting burned to the point of having to start your life over, or just deal with the fun hollow no candy center life.
*hums* Also, I'm not excessively excited at the thought of a new Harry Potter book coming out any time soon [not that there is one] so I can now get to work on Return of the King.
